of sweets and things
by haveyounomercy
Summary: When Marui starts off his new school year in Hyoutei High, he befriends Jirou, who has some unexpectedly interesting hobbies. Marui/Jiroh, one-shot, shounen-ai.


_Fic written for the Pointless But Original Talking Forum Holiday Fic Exchange._

Assignment # 6

**Fandoms**: Prince of Tennis, OHSHC, Kuroshitsuji, Shugo Chara!, JE (particularly Hey! Say! JUMP & NEWS )

**Pairing/Groups You'd Like to Receive**: Marui/Jirou, Atobe/Jirou, Sanada/Yukimura, Yukimura/Akaya, Niou/Yagyuu (POT), Kukai/Utau (Shugo Chara!), Yabu/Hikaru, Yabu/Inoo (HSJ), Ryo/Tegoshi (NEWS)  
**Squicks/Turn Offs in Fic** (receiving): I personally dislike big blobs of paragraphs. Bad grammar and spelling too.  
**What You'd Like to See in Fic**: Um, I love dialogues.  
**Gen/Het/Slash/Smut/None/All-of-the-above?**: All-of-the-above.  
**Your request**: I don't really have a specific request in mind. As long as it makes me go , I'll be happy.

o~

**Title: **of sweets and things

**Pairings/Groups/Fandom (if not PoT): **Sweet Pair (Marui/Jirou), mentions of members in NEWS, Arashi and HSJ!

**Rating:** PG?

**Warnings: **Toothache may occur from fluff.

**Notes:** None of the characters mentioned belong to me, I am just using them for now.

**Summary: **When Marui starts off his new school year in Hyoutei High, he befriends Jirou, who has some unexpectedly interesting hobbies.

**Beta****: ! **Thanks for the huge help! Sorry this was so late ;_;

**A/N / Message to the Receiver:** I have a feeling I know who this is, and I'm really happy to be writing for you, you cutie pie~ 8Db This is a bit of a strange story, but I hope you'll like it!

o~

Technically speaking, there should be no reason why Marui Bunta, tennis and all around specialist, was sitting by himself at lunch.

Even though he was a new kid, Marui was never a shy person. However, ever since he had entered Hyoutei High, there hadn't been any movement on his part to give more than casual greetings to anyone in his class. It was all just... rather boring. No one interesting was here.

Still, did he really have to be alone?

Hyoutei had tables that could fit around eight, but no more than four people ever sat at a table. Rich kids needed their space, so the lunchroom was filled with small groups and cliques. Marui could easily attach himself to any of them. Like the group of laughing kids from his homeroom that were pretty interesting to talk to. Or the girls who had been grinning at him earlier in Math class.

He looked down at his extravagant lunch set meal and sighed. _What was he doing here?_

He had meant to go on with his team. Wherever they went, he would follow. After all, he was a tensai! What could they do without him?

But it wasn't that simple. Tennis was a hobby, okay. But there were more important things in his life now. Like, homework and school. His future. All those kinds of boring grown-up stuff. He had resolved to pay more attention to his studies and work hard to get into a university that his mother would be proud of.

_That isn't the reason_, a voice inside peeped. Marui smiled sadly, and he picked up his chopsticks. In the end, all he had to do was open his eyes. Yukimura and Sanada... they were on a whole different level. It wasn't just tennis, either. Their motivation to play was just so far beyond Marui's. It made him feel... insignificant.

So he quit. He left the team and bade them goodbye, and applied to every school that he was sure that they wouldn't go to. And in the end, he ended up at Hyoutei.

At least the food was good, he thought to himself as he chewed. The pack of bubble gum rubbed against his leg in his pocket uncomfortably and he sighed. The tennis team was having their first meeting. He could pop in.

Or he could keep eating by himself.

At least the food was good.

"Woaaaah!"

Marui turned around to see a boy skidding towards him, a head full of curly blonde hair hurling towards the wall a few tables down from where Marui was sitting. Without thinking, he turned around sharply to shoot his arms out, fingers grasping the air just behind the boy's back. Wide-eyed, Marui lunged forward, hitting himself in the gut with the table edge. With that extra force, he was able to grab a handful of the boy's uniform, dragging the unknown boy towards him.

However, he pulled a little too hard, causing the boy to slip and fall backwards right onto the floor. His head met with a small crunch on the linoleum tile, and two big brown eyes filled with pain stared up at Marui.

"Marui... -kun?

"Oh," Marui blinked. "Jirou."

They stared at each other as the lunchroom continued to be dead silent, everyone watching them.

At a loss of what to do, Marui offered a hand to Jirou. "Hey."

"Hey," grinned Jirou. On his feet sat a pair of bright orange roller skates, the reason for all the chaos.

"You going to get up any time soon?" Marui raised his eyebrow when Jirou still didn't move to take his hand.

"Nope!" Jirou laughed, and Marui felt himself laughing a little as well. He went back to eating his lunch, using one hand to massage his gut.

What did you know? He wasn't feeling so lonely anymore.

o~

Jirou, Marui soon learned over the next few days, had quit tennis as well. Losing interest in it, the boy started to explore other activities like track and field, calligraphy and... rollerblading.

Track and field made him sleepy, and he couldn't even pick up a calligraphy pen without yawning. Rollerblading was fun, but he never could quite control himself.

"Maybe I'm just suited for any clubs," Jirou sighed into his lunch one day.

Marui, who had somehow found a lunch partner in Jirou, sat across from him and raised his eyebrows. "You haven't even tried the cheerleading club yet. Gotta keep your options open, you know."

Jirou pouted as Marui chuckled. "Yeah well, you're not in any clubs either, Marui-kun. And you're my idol! How am I supposed to find a club if _you_ haven't?"

Scoffing, Marui pushed aside his rice and started eating his pudding. "I'm not your idol, Jirou. And stop trying to make me join a club. I'm already in one."

"Really?" Jirou leaned forward, eyes wide. "What is it?"

"The Go Home Club." Marui grinned. Jirou made a snorting noise and rocked back and forth in his bench. "And seriously, do you have any hobbies that you stick to? Likes or dislikes?"

"Well..." Jirou frowned, deep in thought. "I like sweets. And... boy bands."

Marui crinkled his nose. Sweets he could understand. But... boy bands? "What do you mean by boy bands?"

"Oh, you know!" Jirou grinned. "JE! Arashi, NEWS, Hey! Say! Jump!"

"I don't understand you." Marui shook his head. "But from what I'm gathering... you spend all your time at home eating sweets and listening to girly music."

"_Good_ music," Jirou corrected. Marui rolled his eyes. "And I also watch television, too!"

"And what kind of television do you watch, hm?"

"Dramas, talk shows, things that my favourite people are in! You know, like for instance, this guy in HSJ is sooo cute, like oh my god I don't even-"

Marui brought down his fork onto his plate harshly. "You are _such_ a girl."

Jirou sniffed, pouting. "You shouldn't mock others unless you've experienced it yourself, Marui-kun!"

"Is that so, Jirou-kun?" Marui said, imitating Jirou's natural lilt.

"Yes!" The shorter boy didn't seem to notice that he was being mocked. "In fact, you _should _try it!"

"Try what?" Marui laughed, "You mean I should sit at home and watch silly television shows while screaming along the lyrics to a cheesy pop song? No thanks."

Jirou looked defeated for a moment before bouncing back up again, eyes shining. "Well, it isn't fun if you put it like that! I can show you how fun it is!"

Feeling uneasy, Marui glanced nervously at Jirou. "And that means...?"

"We'll _both_ do it!" Jirou leaned across the table, bright eyes in Marui's face. "Please? It'd be so much fun! Like, so so so much fun! We could eat sweets together, and you could come to my house and oh, are you free after school today?"

Marui blinked, and an unnatural feeling of warmth spread onto his face. Jirou beamed back at him, more awake than Marui had ever seen him. "Please?" Jirou asked one more time.

Sighing dramatically, Marui managed to make a half-smile, his cheeks still feeling warm. "...Okay. But only if the sweets are really good."

Jirou did a happy dance, retreating back out of Marui's personal bubble. As Jirou grinned, Marui dug into his food and remembered that he had booked a haircut after school.

Seeing Jirou's happy face though, made Marui look down and sigh. His hair could wait another day, he supposed. He pushed his bangs out of his eyes, only to have them slide back down again.

The sweets had better be good.

o~

Somehow, over the next two weeks, the pair had fallen into a routine. Marui would plan out all the things he had to do after school during lunch while Jirou ate three bowls of pudding. Then, Jirou would pester Marui to share his iPod during their Math class after lunch since he always forgot his own, which would result in him eventually toddling off to Jirou's after school, and then he would finally go home at dinnertime, once again having forgotten to do the things he had been putting off for a while.

It had come to the point where his bangs were almost touching his nose.

"I could cut it for you," Jirou offered once during a commercial break.

"No thanks," Marui said quickly, ripping a bag of sweets open. He stuffed a handful in his mouth, shaking his head to prove his point even further.

They stopped their argument momentarily to watch a cell phone commercial that featured two members of Arashi in it. Then Jirou turned to stick out his tongue at the other boy. "You know, I'm very good with cutting hair! I used to cut my own bangs!"

"Jirou," Marui pointed out, "You don't _have_ any bangs."

"Which is why I said I _used_ to!" Jirou reached over to snatch away the chips. "Don't you trust me?" He said, his usual innocent wide-eyed effect ruined by the crumbs surrounding his mouth.

"You want me to answer that honestly?" Marui grinned, prompting Jirou to stand up on his side of the large brown couch, crossing his arms over his chest imposingly. The next movement lasted only about half of a second, but it was stretched out in a slow-motion scene in front of Marui's eyes, like a dramatic action scene in a movie.

Looking back, it must have happened like this: Jirou decided to pounce down on Marui at the same second that Marui decided to kick Jirou's feet back to unbalance him. This left Jirou flailing his arms, feet kicking the air as he started to descend forward. A gurgling of sound came from Jirou's mouth as he wrenched himself sideways in the air, his feet landing on Marui's ankle, which only propelled Marui to shoot up in pain and try and grab onto Jirou. They felt safe for a brief moment and then they fell together, landing in a heap on the floor, Jirou knocking the wind out of Marui by landing on top of him.

They opened their eyes at the same time, having closed them at one point during the whole mess. Jirou saw nothing but black with his face smushed against Marui's shirt, and Marui sneezed as Jirou's hair tickled his nose.

"Well." Marui said, not meaning anything by it. He stared as a pile of curly almost pink-coloured hair lifted to show a pair of wide brown eyes.

Jirou stared back, eyes seemingly focused on Marui's chin.

"Well." Marui said again, his throat dry. He wasn't sure what was happening, but suddenly Jirou was getting closer and closer, and maybe he had been staring at his lips instead of his chin because they were-

Jirou's lips felt soft, and they only landed on his for a second before they were lifted away again, two small hands pressing themselves against Marui's chest forcefully to help Jirou up.

"I'm going to go get some chocolate," Jirou announced, leaning over Marui. The small hands left abruptly, soon to be followed by a noise of feet dashing against wooden floors, desperate to get away from the boy lying down next to the sofa.

Marui rotated his ankle slowly, making sure that it hadn't been sprained. Then he gently reached up to touch his chin, then his lips.

"Well."

He picked up his things slowly, almost waiting for Jirou to come back and stop him. He thought of Jirou asking him with wide eyes "Why are you leaving so soon?" while he put on his coat. He could taste the sweetness of chocolate in his mouth as he walked to the door, locating his shoes where he always left them. There was even a space on the shoe rack for him now. He smiled a little as he put them on, and then he looked around again.

A spot of red entered his field of vision. If he squinted hard, there was someone leaning against the kitchen door stoically, trying to hide himself while holding something in his arms. Marui turned around again. He pretended he hadn't seen what had happened and opened the door, leaving the figure against the door behind him.

He was halfway down the street when he heard the noise, a small cat's mewl from behind him. Marui turned to see a small white and brown face in the bushes, looking half helpless and half sleepy. Raising an eyebrow, he started to walk closer to it, unconsciously lowering his stature. Soon, he was crouching beside it, both of them standing stock-still.

"Hey," Marui smiled at the small cat, "Are you alone as well?" He reached out with his arms to invite the cat in. "Come on, I'll find your owner for you. I know how lonely it is."

"Are you really talking to my cat?"

Marui froze, and then turned his head. Standing just a few metres away was a familiar brat with a worn-out tennis bag slung over his shoulder. Marui's smile worked itself into an annoyed frown. "Oh, hey kid."

Echizen Ryoma blinked. "Do I know you?"

Straightening himself back up to his regular height, Marui shook his head. "I should've known you wouldn't change. That snarky attitude of yours is still there, all right."

Echizen pulled down his cap. "All I want is my cat back, okay?"

Marui raised his eyebrow again as he looked at the cat in the bushes. It didn't seem like it was going to be moving anytime soon.

"Oi, Karupin!" Echizen stepped closer, staring at the cat behind Marui. "Get over here!"

The cat mewled again, staying where it was. It looked up at Marui. Marui just shrugged. "I'm Marui, from Rikkai." He said, distracting himself by trying to start a conversation. "Our schools played each other last year."

"Whatever." Echizen crossed his arms in front of his chest grumpily. "Karupin, let's go home already."

Marui stepped aside, but only enough so that nothing was blocking Echizen's way. He stayed near the cat though, eager to watch the development. It was good for distracting him from thoughts of Jirou, and from having to spend time alone. "Karupin, do you want to stay here with me? I have a lot of good food at my house, you know~" Marui grinned at the small cat. It was kind of cute, in a way.

"Don't joke around, Karupin. Come here." The shorter boy's voice got sharper, and Marui was delighted to see that he was getting on Echizen's nerves.

Karupin looked away, much to Echizen's disapproval. Suddenly, it bounded off towards Marui, veering slightly to leap over his shoes and run away. Shocked, the two boys turned to see where it had gone.

Jirou leaned over sheepishly, patting the cat that was currently sitting next to his feet. "Hi, Kitty,"

Marui stood there in shock as Echizen cocked his head to the side. "Does everyone in the neighbourhood have weird coloured hair?"

"Shut up, brat. At least we're not two feet tall." Marui snapped, his eyes not straying from Jirou's bent figure.

"Che," Echizen lowered his cap again, scowling.

Finally, Jirou stood back up, cheeks pink. "Marui-kun, I forgot to tell you something!" He took one hand out from behind his back, holding a DVD case of some kind. "I... I recently got the latest NEWS concert on DVD. Do you... want to watch it with me?" His eyes locked onto Marui's, and his lower lip wobbled. "I also have a lot of chocolate! So much yummy chocolate! We can, we can eat chocolate together and watch the concert!"

Marui's hands felt clammy. He urged himself to say something, anything. But no words would come out. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to run away. He wanted to say yes.

"That's gay," remarked Echizen offhandedly, not noticing the tension. Marui and Jirou both bristled, and Marui took a long look at Echizen.

"Yeah, that is pretty gay." Marui said slowly, avoiding eye contact with both of the two. "But still, it sounds pretty good." He started walking over to Jirou, keeping his eyes on the ground. "Yeah, I don't think I mind it being that gay, to be honest." He looked up, grinning.

Echizen looked away as Jirou practically leapt at Marui in joy. Karupin trotted back to her owner, thinking her work was done. The two left silently after that, leaving Jirou and Marui alone in the middle of the road, Jirou still clinging to his idol.

"I brought one," Jirou murmured into Marui's jacket. "A chocolate for you to taste."

Untangling themselves, Marui felt like his brain was going to burst. There were so many things wrong with what he had just done, what he had just said. But seeing Jirou dig around in his pockets for the chocolate that he wanted him to try... it made Marui forget about everything. Just this was enough.

"Here," Jirou pressed a small black triangle into the palm of Marui's hand, smiling. Marui nodded his head in thanks and unwrapped it, making sure to keep the paper as he popped the chocolate into his mouth.

It tasted like heaven. It was soft and fluffy, yet not mushy like chocolate that's been out in the sun too long. There was a crisp feel to it that Marui adored, and the sweetness was just right. It filled his mouth with a light feeling and Marui blushed when he realized that he was still standing there, eyes closed, remembering the chocolate. Coughing into his hand, he smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay," Marui forced himself to say nonchalantly, "Not the best I've had, though."

Jirou wove himself into the other's arms again, and his eyes gleamed with mischievousness. "You're lying," he said plainly.

Marui laughed, and kissed the top of Jirou's head. "Maybe."

"So... do you want to go watch the concert now?" Jirou held the DVD in one hand, poking Marui's back with it. Marui nodded, laughing. The two went home quietly, side by side. When they finally got back, Marui went to wash his hands as Jirou got the DVD ready.

They sat on the couch together, Jirou's head at one end and Marui's at the other. Their feet were smelly and near each other's faces, but they didn't particularly mind. They held hands, ate chocolate and listened to Nishikido Ryo.

"Echizen was right," Marui murmured as Jirou tossed another wrapping paper onto the floor. "This is pretty gay."

They both laughed, and they knew that no matter what, they wouldn't let go of each other's hand.


End file.
